Burn baby, burn
by Lectori Salutem
Summary: In which Natsu does his best to keep Lucy safe, but unfortunately burns some stuff in the process. NaLu oneshot with a short second chapter/epilogue.
1. All fired up!

The first three hundred of this story have been written more than a year ago, but somehow I stopped writing after that. I finally finished it. It turned out a lot longer than I intetended, but I quite like it. I hope you guys do too! :)

Disclaimer: I don't own anything relevant to this story...

* * *

**Burn Baby, Burn**

It had been a while, just the three of them going on a mission. Then again, it wasn't supposed to be a difficult mission this time, so there was no need to have to split the reward money even further. Natsu was walking (by his demand. It wasn't far, so Lucy conceded, this once.) a few steps ahead of her, with Happy sitting on his head. Lucy looked at him and suddenly something popped up in her mind.

"Hey Natsu, I have a question."

"Yeah?" Was his oh so eloquent reply. He turned around, continuing his walk backwards.

"This might be sort of stupid, but I was wondering why you never burn your clothes or anything. Since you can get pretty reckless with your fire when you fight?"

"You're right, that is stupid!" He grinned.

"Hey!" She said indignantly, crossing her arms. Natsu grinned even wider. At that moment, however, the road had a slightly dent and since the pink-haired boy was still walking backwards, he never saw it coming. He stumbled (Happy flew up just in time) and now it was Lucy's turn to laugh at her partner. "Ha! Serves you right!"

"It's 'cause you always ask the weird questions, Lushy." Happy got involved in the conversation as well.

"Shut up, you stupid cat! And pronounce it with a 'c' for once!" Lucy tried to grab him, but his tail dangled just out of reach.

"But Lushy, how can I do that when I have shut up." Was the teasing reply that came from up high.

All Lucy could do was shake her fist in his direction and make idle threats.

"Anyway, could you just answer the damn question already? I'm guessing your scarf won't burn because you got it from your father, but I doubt that applies to the rest of your clothes."

By this point, Natsu had recovered from his almost fatally humiliating fall, so he could, in fact, answer. He even did! "Well, you sorta said it yourself. It's _my_ fire."

"Yeah, so?"

"So I just make it not-burn them!"

"You can do that?"

"Sure."

It was quiet for a bit, until Lucy screamed at the top of her voice. "Then why the hell do you destroy things all the time?!"

"Eh?" Natsu shrunk back, before whining. "But Lucy! It's difficult!"

"Yeah Lucy, don't complain when Natsu's the one doing all the hard stuff!" Happy added some fuel to the fire.

An angry Lucy chased them all the way to their destination.

More or less, anyway. The mission was to capture a group of bandits, allegedly no mages among them, who were mostly robbing, and sometimes also killing unlucky travelers in this area. Natsu and Lucy reported to their client, the mayor of the nearby town, and received a map with marked on it a few locations of recent attacks. This meant a lot more walking around before they could get to 'the good stuff', as Natsu would say.

The first and second sites gave them no leads, so they leisurely strolled to the next, enjoying the nice weather and fun company. As they came closer to the spot, Natsu was suddenly quite serious.

"I smell dead people. They might be close." He said, sniffing the air to get a better sense of direction.

They followed his nose to a small clearing close to the road. Instead of the dead victims and hopefully a scent trail, as they were expecting, they found about twenty rather alive looking men. Natsu gave them a wicked grin. "So, you the bandits that have been messing around here?"

Without saying a word, the bandits attacked.

Natsu and Lucy, of course, fought back.

They were regular people, so the two mages did not go all out. Natsu's flaming fists, Lucy's whip, a little help from Taurus and Happy cheering from up in the sky should have been enough. The bandits wouldn't stay down, however, and a wide-eyed Natsu turned to his partner.

"Lucy! I think they are the dead guys I smelled!"

"What?" She shouted back. "How?"

"Some kind of magic, I guess." Natsu took a deep breath. These guys were already gone anyways, so he might as well do his best.

"Fire dragons roar!"

All of the men were engulfed by his flames. A very effective move, because one by one they dropped to the ground. In fact, when the fire died out, no enemies were left standing.

"Victims?" Happy said, floating above the burned remains.

"Of the real bandits, yeah, I suppose." Lucy answered, feeling sorry for people who had been used like this after being killed. "This is more dangerous than we thought, Natsu. We have to find the mage responsible, or he will kill even more people."

"Yeah." Natsu agreed and he started sniffing around again. He didn't get very far. Rather than being found, their enemy decided to make the first move.

"Lucy-san, please dodge!" Taurus shouted as he swung his ax around slightly less refined than usual.

"Taurus!" Lucy shouted as she jumped back. The weapon narrowly missed her.

At the same time Natsu shouted. "Hey, what're you attacking Lucy for?"

"Forgive me, Lucy-san, something is making me attack your lovely body!"

"Doll play magic again?" Lucy mused. "No, that shouldn't have worked on human bodies." She took ahold of the key of the golden bull. "Can you still do your part of closing the gate?"

Taurus nodded. "Moo! Good luck, Lucy-san." He said, before fading back to the spirit world.

"So it's only a physical possession."

"How'd you know, Lucy?" Happy asked from high in the sky.

"If it was also related to his magic, I would have had to do a forced closure." She answered. "Be careful, they did something to Taurus, so they must still be nearby."

"Indeed." A deep male voice replied from behind. Natsu and Lucy turned around to see several small white things, slips of paper, being thrown in their direction. Both tried to bat them away. In Lucy's case they seemed to glue themselves to her arms, but Natsu's flaming hand prevented the pieces of paper from even trying. Standing before the Fairy Tail mages was pretty much a stereotypical mysterious bad guy. Pale face, long dark hair in a low pony tail and a long dark coat covering everything else.

"Ah, a fire mage. I was never very good at dealing with those." He said, noticing the flames on Natsu's fists. He then laughed. "I think I'll manage, though."

"I don't think so!" Natsu shouted. He tried closing the distance between them and hit the bandit mage in the face, but his partner suddenly appeared before him. Luckily, he could stop himself just before he would have hit her. "Lucy!"

"Natsu! That guy is moving my body somehow!" Lucy shouted back, while her body was trying to kick Natsu where it hurts. He jumped back.

"Yes, yes, my possessive paper magic. Do you like it?" The bad guy asked with a creepy grin. "I can control the movement of anything humanoid through it!"

"The paper!" Lucy hissed, realizing the obvious key to his magic. At the same time her body managed to land a hit on Natsu, who couldn't bring himself to fight seriously, for fear of hurting her. "Ah, Natsu! I'm so sorry!"

He just shrugged off the punch like it was nothing. "Damn it, Lucy! How can I get to that guy without hurting you?" He asked her.

The celestial mage heard their target laughing confidently in response. She saw Natsu standing, ready but unwilling to attack. Finally she remembered the bodies dropping as Natsu's flames raged around them.

"Fire!" She realized. "Natsu, burn his paper!"

"But-" He started to protest, concerned for her safety. She cut him off.

"It's _your_ fire, right?" Lucy said.

"Yeah, but… Oh." He answered, his eyes lighting up as he suddenly remembered their earlier conversation. "I wasn't kidding when I said it's difficult."

"I trust you." Lucy said with a smile, as her body started moving again.

"Alright." Natsu said. He took a deep breath and concentrated. "Fire dragons roar!"

Lucy closed her eyes just before the blast hit. She felt the fire surrounding her. It was hot, almost too hot, but it didn't burn her. The intense heat just reminded her of her partner, how he put his all in everything he did. In a way, it was comforting to stand in his flames; it felt like nothing bad could ever get to her.

The fire faded, but before it did, she felt the control on her body snap. She stopped herself from punching Natsu in the face and turned around. The bandit took one look at her and promptly fainted.

She turned back to look at her partner curiously.

"Hey, he's defeated already!" Happy said, flying somewhere above the fallen mage. "Did you hit him with your roar, Natsu?"

"Lightly scorched him." Natsu replied. "But I don't think that's why he fell unconscious." Only now did Lucy realize that, while Natsu was looking at her, it was somewhat lower than where her eyes ought to be.

Lucy looked down at herself.

"I'm naked!" She screamed. This seemed to jolt Natsu from his staring.

"I didn't mean to! I was so focused on not hurting you that I kinda had no concentration left for anything else! Please don't hurt me!" He said as fast as he could, bracing himself for the inevitable beating.

Lucy took a deep breath, mentally counted to ten and finally let out a sigh (and, of course, wisely ignored Happy's snickering and muttering about how she was being a pervert). "I suppose it couldn't be helped."

"Eh, you're not going to hit me?" Natsu asked.

Lucy, however, wasn't listening, but rather gasped suddenly and reached for her keys. When she didn't find them hanging her belt, since the belt was gone, she panicked. She started looking around, dreading to see a puddle of gold and silver.

"Here, Lucy." Happy had swooped down from the sky, presenting her unharmed keys and Fleuve d'étoiles. Using his superior vantage point he had immediately spotted the metal glinting in the sun. When Lucy was on the verge of having a panic attack, he was smart enough to realize the reason.

"Thank you, Happy." The celestial mage said, the grateful look on her face expressing her feelings far beyond the reach of words.

"Aye!"

"They're _your_ magic, Lucy, just like my fire is mine. If you're safe, then so are they." Natsu said, looking at his partner again. He quickly looked off to the side again. "Ah, I'm sorry about your clothes, though…"

"Not like you did it on purpose, right?" After Natsu's vigorous nodding, she answered his earlier question. "Then why should I hit you? I ought to thank you for freeing me."

"That's what partners are for." The dragon slayer responded to her gratitude. As Lucy summoned Virgo for some new clothes, he snuck in another look at her (he had to agree with Taurus) lovely body, and added too soft for her to hear, "Besides, I can't say I really mind seeing these sights…"

(Natsu avoided an encounter with the infamous Lucy Kick, but the bandit was not so lucky. When he came to he found himself eye to eye with an enraged celestial mage ready to give him a beating for 'being so damn perverted that flashing some boob would defeat him'.

He was grateful the legal guilds didn't do killing.)

* * *

If this were the only time Lucy's clothes were part of the collateral damage, there wouldn't be much of a story to tell…

* * *

"Lucy!" Natsu started to whine. "Why'd you have to pick such a boring mission?"

"Sounded easy and the pay is good. I need some money." Lucy replied pragmatically. "Besides, we're not even there yet, how do you know it will be boring?"

"We'll be working in a garden." Happy pointed out. "It doesn't sound very exciting."

"Yeah!" Natsu agreed. "And you even told me the mission would be getting rid of an aggressive problem."

"Not my fault you stopped listening after the first sentence." Lucy said with an amused smile. "You were in such a hurry to leave, I couldn't even ask Gray or Erza if they wanted to join."

"Sometimes I feel like going on a mission with just you, me and Happy." Natsu mumbled, almost pouting. "Though I would have liked a more interesting one."

Lucy sighed. "Just stop complaining and enjoy a non-potentially-fatal mission for once. Okay?"

"Aye!" Happy said.

"Fine." Natsu grumbled.

Of course it wouldn't be a Fairy Tail mission without _something_ getting out of hand. This time it wasn't their fault, but rather a somewhat misleading mission description. The weeds in their clients' garden were certainly aggressive, but not (entirely) in a conventional sense. Apparently they had tried to exterminate them with a magical potion, but instead they succeeded in turning the harmless plants in bloodthirsty monsters. So the two mages found themselves standing in front of a wriggling mass of vines and red-and-white flowers with teeth that looked hungry for human flesh (think chubby Italian plumbers whose names start with an 'M', though the flowers didn't appear to be especially picky).

"Natsu, how do we always get ourselves into this kind of stuff?"

"Dunno, but I suddenly like this mission a lot more!" The dragon slayer cackled gleefully and set his hand on fire. "I'm all fired up!"

Lucy sighed. "Remember, don't damage what's left of the other plants. The town really needs them to make some kind of medicine."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll try."

Of course, Natsu being Natsu, trying wasn't enough to save the harmless, non-man-eating plants. That task naturally fell to Lucy, Happy and Aries, one of the few spirits that could be trusted with the delicate ingredients. This worked pretty well, until it suddenly didn't.

The mission was almost over. They salvaged as many plants as possible. Lucy had just dismissed Aries, thanking her for her hard work. Only the last weed was left, but like any good battle it was the biggest, baddest and ugliest of them all. Even Natsu was slightly intimidated.

The king of the carnivorous plants.

The mastermind of the man-eating foliage.

Simply put, they were up against Weedzilla.

And, using a sneaky vine attacking from behind, it snatched Lucy right up. Other vines held a tight grip on her arms and legs, so there was not a lot she could do. So now the celestial mage was hanging upside down above a giant floral mouth. She could count the teeth if she wanted to, but somehow screaming seemed like a better idea.

Natsu and Happy could only look at this utterly fascinating spectacle.

Meanwhile Lucy saw something she would rather not have. Inside the giant mouth she saw a giant tongue. It was enormous. It was slimy. It was headed for her. "That's not going to touch me, right?" She asked in panicky denial.

"Maybe it wants to know if you taste nice before it eats you." The flying cat offered his helpful explanation.

Weedzilla's tongue _did_ touch her and it was as slimy as it looked. "It licked me! It actually licked me!" It licked her again. Lucy started squirming. "Get it off. Get it off. Get it off!" With every repeat the volume grew. "Natsu!"

The sound of his name was finally enough to get a reaction. Unfortunately it wasn't a very intelligent one. "How?"

Lucy glared at him. "Have you gone mad? Are you a mage or not?" The vine around her middle squeezed at the loud and unexpected screech. It cut her off and made her gasp for a breath. When she finally found some air again, she continued her screaming. "Kill it with fire!"

"Okay! I can do that." He said and took a deep breath.

"Ah, but please try-" Lucy started, but was interrupted by a loud battle cry.

"Fire dragons roar! "

"-to spare my clothes this time." Lucy finished her futile sentence. She sighed. At least the slime had sort of evaporated in the flames. "Thanks Natsu."

She was extremely happy this mission was over.

(Apparently Aries and Virgo had found the time to have a little chat. When Lucy summoned the latter for a new set of clothes, the ones she received were styled to look like they were made of leaves and flowers.

Only a devil glare (patented by Erza, borrowed with permission by Lucy) kept Natsu and Happy from busting a gut laughing.)

* * *

It happened again…

* * *

"Do you mind?" Lucy asked irritably, while Natsu was literally rolling on the floor and metaphorically laughing his ass off. The only reason he came with her on this mission was to alleviate his boredom, which made his behavior even more irritating to the celestial mage.

"But Lucy, it's funny!" He answered, looking at his partner dressed in a huge, though slightly singed by now, wedding dress. "I mean, how many people get almost accidentally married? You're so weird!"

"How am I weird? The mission request said it was for some kind of play and they specifically requested me. How was I supposed to know it was some kind of retarded plot to marry into my nonexistent Heartfilia fortune?" She sighed, immensely happy with her habit of reading any and all words that appeared before her eyes. She figured the plan out before signing anything, and the priest was a phony anyway, so nothing truly happened. "Well, whatever. Thanks for burning their asses, by the way."

"No problem!" A somewhat calmed down Natsu replied. "In fact," he continued with a wicked grin, "it was my pleasure!"

"I noticed." Lucy said with an amused grin. She looked at the various wannabe-wedding attendees lying around, bruised and charred and very much unconscious.

"So, what now?" Natsu asked, while giving her keys and whip back to his partner. He had been entrusted with them during the wedding, because the client had said they didn't match the dress. "I doubt they're going to pay us anything."

Lucy snorted at that. "That would be something… No I guess we'll just tie them up and deliver them to the authorities, a case of attempted fraud or something. If we're lucky maybe they'll give us some reward." She looked down at her attire. "But first I want to get out of this ridiculous dress as fast as possible!"

"I'll help!" The dragon slayer said and promptly threw a ball of fire at her.

Needless to say, the dress did not survive.

So there Lucy stood, naked, but unharmed. She took a deep breath, punched her partner in the face and started screaming. "Natsu! I meant after I finding other clothes to wear! And even then, stop burning my clothes!"

As Lucy summoned Virgo once more, Natsu noticed that the supposed groom had regained consciousness. The man was smart enough to refrain from moving, but he was looking rather intensely at something. After following his line of vision, Natsu kicked him in the face.

"Like hell _you're_ allowed to look." He muttered and with a sigh started rounding up the various scattered bodies.

(No he did not peek on his partner. Really. He only looked to make sure she was okay…

That's what Natsu told himself, anyway.)

* * *

… and again…

* * *

"Is there no end to them?" Lucy asked exasperated. She and Natsu were currently back to back in a cave fending off a never-ending horde of baby man-eating spiders, each about the size of a human head. The mission request this time was to get of rid of their mother and Lucy could only hope that the other half of their team, Erza and Gray, had already done that part. She was so not looking forward to any nasty surprises at the end of the dark tunnel.

"Doesn't seem like it." Natsu replied. Het crushed a spider with a flaming fist.

"I read somewhere that a spider's nest can contain up to 3000 eggs…" Lucy added. With a flick of her whip another one was gone.

"Damn. We're surrounded and killing them one by one is gonna take ages." He looked at his partner. "And this cave's too small to use any big attacks without getting caught in it ourselves."

"If we let even one escape, it'll be dangerous for the nearby towns." Lucy looked at the dragon slayer calculatingly. "Alright, go ahead."

"Eh?"

"Set this whole cave on fire. I know you can do it without harming me." She sighed. "Anyway, killing them one by one leaves the possibility of some spiders escaping way to high. Even if Happy is waiting by the entrance to stop any that slip past us, they simply have too many places to hide here. It's better to kill them all at once." Besides, her clothes (and his too) were already torn up to the point of no return. She had absolutely nothing to lose.

Natsu nodded. "Here it comes." And then the entire interior was bathed in fire. The heat was a welcome change from the cave's clammy cold. Lucy enjoyed it. The spiders didn't. Natsu glanced at here once the fire died down, but quickly looked away. "I think that's all of them."

"Yeah. Well done" Lucy already held her keys in her hand, knowing from experience she'd lose them during the blaze otherwise. "Open gate of the Maiden. Virgo!"

"Time for my punishment, Hime?" The pink-haired maid greeted as usual.

"No, but could you bring me some clothes?"

"Of course." With a small bow she disappeared. When Virgo appeared again, she was carrying a new set for her, but that wasn't all. "I noticed Natsu-sama was dressed quite indecently, so I took the liberty of preparing matching outfits."

"Indecently?" Natsu looked down and finally noticed that his clothes were barely in one piece. Only his dragon-scaled scarf had been tough enough to withstand the creeping crawlers. "Oh. Thanks, I guess."

"No problem." Virgo bowed again. "Hime, Natsu-sama can help you get dressed, so I will take my leave." And with a poof she was gone.

"What, no!" Lucy shouted, but it was too late. Natsu was looking at her expectantly. A vein started pulsing on her temple just second before she snapped. "I can dress myself perfectly fine, so stop looking at me! Go change your own clothes or something!"

The dragon slayer did what any sensible male would do, and obeyed the irate female.

(When they met up with the rest of the team, Natsu and Lucy had to endure teasing from both Happy and Gray. It started with how cute they looked and ended with possible reasons for their state of dress that had Erza blushing as scarlet as her hair.

Everyone agreed they looked good together, though.)

* * *

… and again, and again, and again! Until one day it happened somewhat differently.

* * *

It was a day like any other, by Fairy Tail standards anyway. There hadn't been that many mission requests for a week now, so the guild hall was comfortably crowded. Lucy sat at the bar, chatting with Levy about the various books they had read recently. Behind her she could hear the daily mid-morning brawl starting, but she ignored it. Even when the fighting inevitably began to heat up the bookworms continued their conversation. It was Fairy Tail after all; they were used to it.

Meanwhile the heating up part of the fight became quite literal with the introduction of magic. One of the major combatants reacted by trying to cool everyone down, a further act of aggression, since this was also done quite literally. The ante had been upped, now everyone joined in with their respective magic.

What could possibly go wrong?

Usually, everything went alright. When the fighting would get too rowdy and possibly damaging, someone (Erza) was aware enough to put a stop to it. Today, however, Mira had attempted a new strawberry cake recipe, so the disciplinary demon was otherwise occupied. That's how it could happen, how it did happen, that a single attack strayed…

Gray dodged! That stupid stripper! Natsu was angry. He wasn't supposed to step aside! Now the fire mage would get into trouble again for destroying the guild. He shouted an obligatory "Incoming!" in vaguely the directing his fireball was flying and got ready to rejoin the brawl while he still had the privilege to do so.

Then it registered exactly where his attack was headed.

An unsuspecting Lucy.

And it was too late for him, or anyone else, to do anything about it. He tried though, shouting her name in an attempt to warn her.

Lucy, upon hearing her name, turned around. Before she could analyze the situation, she felt a familiar heat slam into her. She recognized Natsu's fire; the intense flames never failed to keep her safe and burn her clothes. She supposed she ought to be grateful it was only her shirt this time. She covered her assets out of reflex.

"Lu-chan!" Levy gasped beside her. "Are you okay? Does it hurt?"

"Lucy, I'm so sorry!" Natsu was instantly by her side, looking very much shaken up.

"Lucy-san, please let me help you." Wendy was quick to offer her assistance.

Gray, Erza, Mirajane, Cana, Juvia, Lisanna, the exceed… A chorus of concerned questions was fired at the celestial mage. The guild members were shocked and a quiet murmur replaced the usual boisterous conversations. Lucy, meanwhile, was slightly confused at the amount of attention she was getting.

"Lucy-san, please lower your arms so I can begin the treatment."

"What treatment?" The celestial mage asked, surprised. "I'm fine!"

"But Lu-chan! You were hit by Natsu's attack just now!" The fire mage lowered his head in shame at Levy's words.

"I can understand you don't want anyone to see, but the scarring will be less severe if I can treat the burn right away." Wendy said.

"Oh, that's what you're talking about!" Lucy said, finally realized why everyone seemed so depressed. "Really guys, I mean it when I say I'm fine. It's just my clothes that were burnt, I'm completely unharmed."

They still looked at her doubtfully. She turned to her partner.

"Natsu, you burn my clothes all the time when we're on missions, right?"

"Well, yeah, but-"

"And have you ever hurt me with your fire?"

"Never, but-"

"Then why would I be hurt now?" The fire mage remained silent, seemingly deep in thought. Lucy addressed the rest of the guild again. "Believe me now? I'm fine, really!"

This seemed to reassure most of the guild members. Wendy still wasn't entirely convinced, though. "I would like to give you a proper medical examination anyway, Lucy-san." By her side Levy nodded, her worries not yet entirely eased.

"If it'll make you happy… Let's go to the infirmary. " Lucy sighed and rose from her seat. Before she walked away she addressed the barmaid. "Mira, if you still have some spare clothes lying around, could you bring me a new top, please?"

"Sure!" Was the cheery reply.

With that Lucy disappeared behind the infirmary doors together with Wendy and Levy. Mira got busy with finding the requested shirt. Natsu received his due punishment from Erza (she had finished the entire cake). Gray was laughing at the fire mage. Juvia was watching the ice mage. Cana started drinking again. Macao and Wakaba complained about the celestial mage fast reflexes when it came to her modesty. In short, the guild was more or less back to normal.

The daily afternoon brawl was significantly more subdued, though.

When evening fell, Lucy left the guild to make herself a nice dinner. Of course that meant she would be cooking for three, since Natsu and Happy were walking (well, one of them was flying) her home, lured by the possibility of either raiding her fridge or eating her home-cooked meals. Actually, she invited them, because she knew they would just turn up on her couch or in her bath and that was not good for her blood pressure… Also, this gave her an opportunity to ask her partner about something.

"Hey Natsu, I have a question."

"Yeah?" Was his oh so eloquent reply. Happy, flying above the two mages, snickered. Somehow he got the feeling this would be an interesting conversation. "What is it?"

"Why were you all worried too, this morning?" Lucy asked. "I mean, you ought to know that your fire won't burn if you don't want it to."

"Yeah, but I wasn't kidding when I told you it's difficult." Natsu answered seriously, much more so than she expected. "I need to focus, and I really don't like doing that." He looked annoyed at even the thought of it and Lucy giggled at him. He continued. "So I don't unless I have to."

"What, so that attack should have burned me?" Lucy asked a bit skeptically.

"Yeah." Natsu confirmed, surprising her. "I thought it had, so I felt all guilty and stuff."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Oh. Then I guess I understand why you were worried." Lucy said. "But wait, why didn't it burn me, then?"

Natsu shrugged. "You asked me about my clothes before, right? When I was with Igneel I used to burn my clothes all the time. It was kind of a bother to find new pants all the time, so every time I used my fire I tried to focus on not burning whatever I was wearing." Lucy had flushed slightly at the thought of Natsu running around naked, but it went by unnoticed. "After a while I sort of did it automatically, like a habit. Maybe you're the same?"

Lucy raised an eyebrow. "So I'm on the same level as your clothes now?" She said, clearly not impressed.

"Don't worry Lucy, you're much more important than Natsu's clothes!" Happy decided he should probably interfere, before the fire mage caused Lucy to turn into her demon form.

"Happy…" She said, somehow relieved by his words.

"Yeah! Natsu's clothes never have fish, but your fridge does! You're the best!"

"Happy!" She screeched. She reached for him, jumping to try and yank him down by his tail. Mission failed, the blue cat thought as he flew up higher, out of reach. And it was such a nice compliment, too…

Natsu wisely decided to keep quiet. With a huff Lucy continued on her path beside the canal. Suddenly she had a brilliant (in her humble opinion) idea.

"Hey Natsu?" She said sweetly.

"Yeah?"

"Does this mean you don't have to think about not hurting me? As in, it requires no focus at all?"

"Yeah…" Something in the tone of her voice was making him suspicious.

"So now you can focus on other things, right?" Lucy said, getting excited. "That means you can stop destroying my poor clothes all the time!"

"Nope! Can't do that, sorry." He replied.

"Eh? Why not? It's your fire, right?" She asked, honestly surprised.

"It simply won't work."

Lucy was quiet for a bit, trying to figure out why exactly he wouldn't be able to spare her clothes. She couldn't think of a good reason. "Alright, I don't get it. Why won't it work?"

"Well, you said it yourself, it's _my_ fire."

"I know that! I thought that was why you can not-burn stuff. So why won't it work?"

"It's my fire. If there is something I want to burn, it will definitely, without a doubt, turn that thing to ash. Even if I pretend otherwise." Natsu answered rather cryptically.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lucy was almost screaming in frustrating by now.

Natsu chuckled. "You really don't get it? And here I thought you were the smart one." He leaned closer until Lucy could feel his breath on her ear. It was distracting to the point that it took a while for his whispered words to register in her befuddled mind. "It means, Lucy, that I secretly kind of like seeing you naked."

Lucy reacted instantly and instinctively…

She turned bright red, shouted "Pervert!" at the top of her voice and pushed him in the canal.

(They still had dinner together. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, besides Lucy blushing every time she felt Natsu's eyes on her. This, of course, only made him stare all the more.

Damn cute blush, after all.)

* * *

Natsu relieved his Lucy of her clothes many, _many_ more times. Fortunately for the celestial mage, she eventually taught him less destructive methods to accomplish this.

Though seeing her dressed in nothing but his fire would forever be his favorite.

* * *

AN: I had some trouble with the point of view in this story. I found it difficult to decide how to write some parts, so if you have a useful opinion on that, please let me know. Of course any other criticism is welcome too (and compliments, I like compliments xD)!

Anyway, this was supposed to be a oneshot (I'm no good at writing the steamy kissing scene that comes next xD). However, there's still a little bit that belongs to this story that somehow didn't fit right. So I decided to put that in a (significantly shorter) second chapter/epilogue kind of thing. Expect it in a few days!


	2. He likes her!

The second part to this story. I hope you like it!

* * *

**Happy's bet**

He saw it all. Natsu's laughing and teasing and whispering. Lucy's blushing and denying and pushing. He saw how the celestial mage offered her hand to help the soaking wet fire mage out of the water again. He saw them holding on tightly even as Natsu set himself on fire to dry his clothes. He saw Lucy slapping him when a few sparks landed on her clothes, but never actually moving away. Yes, Happy saw it all and he knew. It was time.

Time to use his knowledge and earn himself some fish!

* * *

"Mira!" The blue exceed shouted as he flew into the guild, catching the attention of most of the remaining members. "If I tell you something nice, will you give me fish?"

"Happy? I thought you were with Natsu and Lucy?" The barmaid said. "My, did something happen?"

The cat nodded. "It was really funny. I'll tell you if you give me fish!" Mirajane giggled and gave him a fish. With the deal the done, Happy played his role as informant. "Natsu made Lucy blush really bad!"

"Really?" Mira asked all sparkly eyed. Happy was too busy munching on his fish too answer, but it wasn't necessary anyway. "Will my dreams finally come true? Oh, they're so cute together!"

"Uhm, Mira-nee?" Lisanna tried to get her sister's attention before she could get lost in her fantasy world. "Mira-nee, you know Natsu has no idea what he's doing when it comes to love. Remember how many times you thought something would happen, only to be disappointed?"

"My hopes and dreams, crushed every time!" Mirajane sighed dramatically.

"Yeah, that idiot hardly knows what the difference between guys and girls is!" Gray said laughing, inserting himself in the conversation. "Like he would make a move on Lucy! Like he could!"

"Juvia agrees with Gray-sama." Could be heard from behind a pillar. Regardless of what the water-woman really thought, she would support her beloved!

"Hey!" Happy shouted. They were making his partner ridiculous and he was ready to defend his honor (besides, he finished his fish, so he was bored again). "Natsu knows what he's doing! It's you who don't have a clue!"

"Happy, do you mean Natsu actually wants Lucy to be his girlfriend and he has some kind of plan?" Lisanna asked as Mira's eyes started to glimmer again.

"Gimme fish and I'll tell you!"

Mira was already on her way to the fridge when Cana interrupted. "Hold on, I don't trust this cat. It sounds like he's just trying to get as many fish out of ya as he can."

Happy gasped. "You don't even trust your nakama? Cana's a meanie!"

"Give us the gossip first and then you'll get the grub."

"No way! Meanie!"

"See? He doesn't have anything to tell you!" Cana nodded to herself. "I know these kinds of things."

"This is Salamander we're talking about; it's not so hard to figure out." Gajeel said. "Don't be so pleased with yourself over nothing you drunk."

"No one was asking you!" Cana shouted and slapped him on his head.

"Still, Gajeel is right." Gray said. "I don't know why Mira even bothers getting her hopes up over ash for brains. It's clearly a hopeless case."

"No it's not!" Happy protested. "Natsu will really make a move, for sure! Within a week!"

"For sure, eh?" Gajeel had stepped out of Cana's reach. "Wanna make a bet on it?"

"Bet?" Happy asked.

"I'm interested." Gray said, voicing the thoughts of anyone within earshot. "Terms?"

"We'll bet on whether or not Salamander will make a move on Bunny girl within one week. We'll just make a betting pool so anyone can join." Gajeel looked the blue exceed straight in the eyes. "However, you have to bet at least 100.000 jewels. And if you lose, you'll have to announce to the whole town how much of an idiot that partner of yours is."

"I am so in!" Gray exclaimed.

"We'll leave managing the betting pool to you." Gajeel waved towards Lisanna (Mirajane, the normal default in situations like this, was still too depressed from having her dreams destroyed so many times in the past few minutes).

"Sure, but why set a minimum for Happy?" She answered.

"Because no one else is gonna bet on that loser, and I want to win at least some money!" Gajeel said with a nasty grin. "He's sure, right? It shouldn't be a problem, then."

Happy gulped. He didn't have that much money right now. All around him people started to bet against him and Natsu. Just when he started to lose all hope, he heard Mira take his side. "I believe in the power of love! Go Natsu!" Her sparkles had been revived and she placed her bet.

Suddenly Happy remembered a conversation he and Natsu had had after that mission with the creepy paper magic guy.

_They had just returned to Magnolia from their mission. Natsu had thrown his travel bag in some corner and both he and Happy tried to find some food in their chaotic kitchen. _

"_So, Natsu…" Happy started. "Had fun burning Lucy's clothes?"_

"_What?" The dragon slayer's head shot up to look at his partner._

"_I saw you looking!" The cat purred. "You like her!" _

"_Shut up." Was the grumbled reply as Natsu continued his rummaging. _

"_Oh! You're not denying anything?" He continued teasing._

"_Happy, she asked me too. I did it to defeat that bastard, not because I wanted to." _

"_Doesn't mean you didn't like it!" The cat grinned. Natsu remained silent. "There's nothing wrong with that, you know. Lucy's fun and I think she likes you too."_

_The dragon slayer let out a frustrated sigh. "Yeah, I think she's fun, too. I like her a lot, but…"_

"_But what?" Happy asked, confused._

"_Igneel told me once about liking someone." Natsu started. "You know my magic is tied to my emotions, right? He said there's a kind of 'like' that's stronger than anything else. So strong that I'd probably lose control of my fire when I'm feeling it. He told me to be careful or I might burn the person I treasure most." A wave of nostalgia made him pause, and he laughed softly, thinking back on his own reaction all those years ago. "Of course I didn't get it back then. Told Igneel I didn't need to worry because there's no way I could burn him! But now… I think I could like Lucy that much…"_

"_What are you gonna do?" Happy asked seriously. _

"_What can I do?" Natsu replied. "Lucy will be hurt if I do lose control and I will never ever hurt my nakama. Above all she's my best friend." _

"_Oh." Happy thought for a second. "Hey! I'm not you best friend anymore?"_

_Natsu laughed at the kitten-eyes look the exceed was giving him. "You're my best friend too!" The strange seriousness had dissipated. "Now come on. I don't think we have any food left, so let's raid our other best friend's fridge!"_

"He shouldn't have anything holding him back anymore…" He whispered to himself. He spoke up. "Gajeel! When I win, you have to tell everyone Natsu is a much better dragon slayer than you'll ever be!"

"Sure." The iron mage shrugged.

"Alright. I'm in." He would have to temporarily sacrifice the emergency food money, but it was for a good cause.

Happy would trust his partners.

* * *

Six days later Natsu made two people extremely happy (and rich) when, upon entering the guild hall, he greeted Lucy with a hug and a passionate, reciprocated kiss.


End file.
